Counseling People Who Have Suffered Abuse

  Counseling People Who Have Suffered Abuse   Student   Course   Institution

Counseling People who have Suffered Abuse Counselors need to familiarize themselves with legal issues relevant to the profession because increasingly they are coming face to face with the legal implications of their practice when doing specialist work or when facing legal suits (Jenkins, 2002). Among the legal issues counselors face in the practice of abuse counseling are those dealing with confidentiality, discrimination and handling children. The British Association for Counseling & Psychotherapy (BACP), 2018 defines confidentiality as a counselor’s legal and ethical duty to protect a client’s sensitive and identifiable information from unauthorized disclosure. Authorization of disclosure can be either through compulsion by the law or through a client’s consent. Disclosure is not a breach only when a client consents to the sharing of their personal information. Confidentiality is considered the golden creed of the counselling profession. The law protects counselor-client confidentiality like other forms of privileged communication such as doctor- patient confidentiality. In practice, protecting client confidentiality is complicated by exceptions provided for by the law (Jenkins 2002). Legally, it is mandatory for counselors to report to authorities when they consider a client a threat to themselves and others, or to property, or when a counselor suspects child abuse or elder abuse. However, before beginning therapy, the client should always be informed of circumstances when confidentiality has to be broken and also that the counselor will not do so unless compelled by the law. Breach of confidentiality, no matter the circumstances always poses the danger of undermining the clients trust in the counselor, or in the entire counseling process altogether (ibid). According to Marshall (2004), discrimination is unfair or biased treatment of a group of people, based on their actual or perceived membership in a particular group, class, or category. BACP’s Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions states that practitioners should ensure that their professional engagement with clients is not biased by personal views on gender, ethnicity, lifestyle, age, race, disability, sexual orientation, marital status or religion (2018). The framework asserts that counselors have a responsibility to reflect on, examine and address their prejudices in order to be effective counselors. Marshall (2004) concurs that in addition to understanding what is going on in the society around them, counselors need to understand what is going on in themselves, reflect on it and address it through self-awareness and improvement practices.   Child protection laws require compulsory reporting of child abuse to authorities by counselors. Sometimes this causes dilemma, especially when a client feels strongly against reporting. This breach of confidentiality can cause a client to lose trust in the counselor, consequently discouraging abuse victims from seeking the help they need. According to Tribe & Morrissey, 2004 abuse usually causes feel...